January 09, 2015, 3:15PM

With neither of them working, Darin and Danielle Tassin of Covington were bracing for a mighty lean Christmas for their six children. Thanks to the generosity of people throughout the New Orleans area, the Tassins ended up with a bountiful Christmas with plenty of toys and other gifts for the kids, ranging in age from 1- to 14-years-old. But the... Full story »

November 19, 2014, 1:55PM

In its latest expansion, Ochsner Health System has announced its intention to forge a partnership with Terrebonne General Medical Center by early next year, CityBusiness reports. Terrebonne will retain its name, staffing levels and independent governance, with the goal of cutting costs as a member of the Ochsner system, according to the report. (Read the CityBusiness report) Ochsner completed a... Full story »

November 12, 2014, 2:34PM

Ochsner Health System has officially taken over River Parishes Hospital in LaPlace and is operating it as an outpatient medical center, according to L'Observateur newspaper. Ochsner signs now adorn the building, and officials say services include 24-hour emergency room care, a laboratory and a cardiopulmonary section, according to the newspaper. Ochsner announced in September that it was buying the 106-bed property... Full story »

October 28, 2014, 2:17PM

Dr. Frank Riddick Jr., who in 26 years as a high-ranking officer in the Ochsner Health System oversaw its expansion throughout south Louisiana, died Tuesday at Ochsner Hospital. He was 85. Dr. Riddick joined the Ochsner Clinic staff in 1961 as a specialist in internal medicine and endocrinology. He spent his entire career at Ochsner Health System, a network that... Full story »

October 08, 2014, 1:19PM

Ochsner Health System and St. Tammany Parish Hospital have agreed to a partnership that will allow the two institutions to share resources rather than compete against one another. In essence, the partnership means patients in St. Tammany will gain greater access to specialists and sub-specialists affiliated with the massive Ochsner system and Ochsner will have improved access to beds... Full story »

October 07, 2014, 1:25PM

Touting it as a way to improve patient care and reduce costs, St. Tammany Parish Hospital and Ochsner Health System on Tuesday celebrated the formation of a long-term, strategic partnership that will allow the two institutions to share resources rather than compete against one another in the ever-changing healthcare landscape. The partnership, which was first mentioned in May, was formally... Full story »

September 19, 2014, 11:52AM

Ochsner Health System is offering reassurances that St. Charles Parish Hospital in Luling will not endure staff reductions, the St. Charles Herald Guide reports. Ochsner assumed operations of the public hospital earlier this month, under a management agreement with parish officials. Soon after, Ochsner announced plans to buy River Parishes Hospital in LaPlace, a transaction that will result in 90 layoffs, or 60 percent of... Full story »

September 05, 2014, 10:14PM

Seth Turner is turning 13. He likes Legos and professional wrestling, Xbox and 4-wheeling. On Thursday, he pulled a turtle from a pond, got in trouble with his mother, and sneaked out of the house to go visit old friends. Typical things you would expect of any adolescent boy. But Seth is not typical. His mom knew that the first... Full story »

August 27, 2014, 5:53PM

Ochsner Health System's chief executive said Wednesday he will consider the re-employment prospects of 20 St. Charles Parish Hospital nurses who were fired last week because they had been deemed ineligible for rehire after their earlier departure from Ochsner. "Everyone's file will be revisited," Ochsner President Warner Thomas said. The concession came after several of the nurses appealed to the St.... Full story »

August 11, 2014, 4:46PM

New Orleans area residents who are unemployed and under-employed are eligible to apply for a program offering free medical assistant training and a path to a possible full-time healthcare job, a coalition of groups said Monday. An information session will be held Tuesday (Aug. 12) at the Sojourner Truth Neighborhood Center, 2200 Lafitte Ave., from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Ochsner... Full story »

July 18, 2014, 4:30PM

At 4 a.m. July 21, 1964, a seemingly routine call came into New Orleans police. Juan Valdes, a tenant at the Patios Apartments on St. Charles Avenue, could smell smoke. Officers arrived at the scene to find a blaze in Apartment J, at the back of the building. Firefighters hauled out a burning mattress, and found the body of Dr.... Full story »

June 30, 2014, 7:12PM

When the bullets started flying near Bourbon Street and Orleans Avenue early Sunday morning, a 40-year-old intensive care unit nurse from Ochsner Medical Center took cover behind the columns outside Napoleon's Itch bar a block away. And then, instinctively, he began moving toward the scene of the Bourbon Street shooting, where he triaged the wounded and helped three doctors and... Full story »

May 30, 2014, 3:02PM

Ochsner Health System CEO Warner Thomas has been appointed to a national commission that advises Congress on Medicare issues. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro on Thursday appointed Thomas and two others to the Medicare Payments Advisory Commission, or MedPAC, which was established in 1997 with "a mandate that is quite broad," according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. "In addition... Full story »

May 29, 2014, 7:23PM

In an interview earlier this month, St. Charles Parish Hospital chief executive Federico Martinez hinted that change was afoot in the hospital's management. The 59-bed Luling hospital inevitably would join a bigger health-care system, he predicted, recalling discussions along those lines throughout his 29 years as CEO. "Our future involves becoming part of a larger system. Not necessarily owned... Full story »

May 09, 2014, 4:31PM

Ochsner Health System and St. Tammany Parish Hospital announced a partnership Friday (May 9) to expand health care services to the north shore. How that partnership will play out is still a little fuzzy. Under the terms of the agreement, the hospitals will each retain their names, assets and staff, officials said. And Ochsner President and CEO Warner Thomas... Full story »

February 20, 2014, 2:10PM

Jefferson Parish-based Ochsner Health System's expansion into Mississippi is taking hold, with a two-year agreement to manage Hancock Medical Center in Hancock County, according to the Sun Herald. A 90-day interim agreement was announced in September, but Ochsner has continued to run the hospital since it expired. Additional terms of the deal, including financial considerations, were not immediately available... Full story »

February 05, 2014, 4:05PM

Dr. Edward S. Connolly, the chairman of Ochsner Clinic’s neurosurgery department for nearly a quarter-century, died Saturday (Feb. 1) at Ochsner Medical Center of complications of cancer. He was 79. A native of Omaha, he came to New Orleans in 1972 to lead the neurosurgery department of Ochsner. Dr. Connolly held that post until 1996, when he became a... Full story »

January 13, 2014, 10:32AM

Expectant mothers seeking a homelike birthing experience but wary of straying too far from the traditional hospital setting might find an answer at Ochsner Baptist Women’s Pavilion. The hospital on Monday (Jan. 13) opened its new two-suite alternative birthing center on the fourth-floor of the newly re-opened birthing hospital at Napoleon and Claiborne Avenues Uptown. The Perkin Alternative Birthing... Full story »

December 01, 2013, 3:50PM

Daybreak saw Jayden Rose Melancon for the first time, but she didn’t see it. Little Jayden squeezed her eyes shut as a nurse rolled her wooden bassinette out of Ochsner Medical Center into the first morning light at 6:47 a.m., almost exactly 12 hours after she was born. Her mother, Morgan Melancon, 35, hadn’t slept all night. She’d been... Full story »